Title
McIlroy, Malcom (Doug) Douglas oral history, part 1 of 2
Catalog Number
102795421
Type
Document
Description
Doug McIlroy was a key figure in computing at the Bell Telephone Laboratories from the 1950s into the 1990s, most especially to the development of Unix. In this audio-recorded oral history interview, the first of two parts, McIlroy describes his family background, childhood, and early experiences and engagement with computing. He details his undergraduate experience at Cornell, and his graduate experience at MIT in the 1950s including his work on the Whirlwind II computer. McIlroy describes his summer internship experience with the Bell Telephone Laboratories, and his decision to join its Mathematics Department in 1958. He describes the state and place of computing in Bell Labs, the work of the Mathematics Department, and the development of computer science research there in the 1950s and 1960s. McIlroy recounts his direction of the Computing Techniques Research Department, its involvement in the Multics project, and his engagement with software engineering in the 1960s. He discusses Bell Labs’ withdrawal from the Multics project, and its implications for his Department, a context out of which Unix would soon emerge.
Date
2019-09-30
Contributor
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Brock, David C., Interviewer
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McIlroy, Malcom D., Interviewee
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Publisher
Computer History Museum
Place of Publication
Etna, NH
Extent
59 p.
Format
PDF
Category
Transcription
Subject
Software; Operating systems (Computers); Cornell university; MIT; Whirlwind computer; Bell Telephone Laboratories; Telecommunications; timesharing; Computer science; UNIX
Collection Title
CHM Oral History Collection
Credit
Computer History Museum
